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Juan Carlos Zahera

Category: Dancer and choreographer

Birth Place: Lugo

Curriculum

He studied Classic Dance, Spanish Dance and Jazz-Modern in A Coruña. In 1977, he entered the “Ballet Gallego “Rey de Viana”. He danced in this ballet for four years, participating in all national and international performances and tours.
In 1982, he entered the National Dance School in Madrid and one year later Luis Fuente Dance Company, where he completed his classic education with Zelma Bustillo and Luís Fuente. Regarding contemporary dance, he studied with Clive Thompson at Alvein Alley Company in New York. In October that same year, he entered the “Ballet del Gran Teatro del Liceo” in Barcelona, whose director, Asunción Aguadé, confirmed his status as a soloist dancer. There, he worked under outstanding dance and theatre personalities such as Lluis Pascual, Ivo Guerra, Pier Luigi Samaritani, Giuseppe de Tomasi (pupil of Tatiana Paulova), Friedemann Steiner and José Luís Alonso. He also worked under prestigious conductors such as Roberto Abbado, Armando Gatto, Romano Gandolfi and Manfred Ranín.

Work & Activities

In 1986, he combined his stay at the “Gran Teatro del Liceo” with “Teatro Español” (Madrid) to work in the production of ‘Bohemios’, directed by Miguel Narros and choreography by José Granero.
One year later, he created in Lugo his own dance workshop, carrying out an intense pedagogic and choreographic activity. Together with his most outstanding pupils, he created ‘Ballet Cidade de Lugo’ and presented it to the public in 1990.
En 1993, es llamado por el Centro Dramático Gallego para coreografiar la obra O Soño de Verán de W. Shakespeare, dirigida por Eduardo Alonso.
In 1995, he was awarded the National Dance Prize in Paraguay ‘Pequenas princesas’, a choreography that led him to organize many performances and courses.
In June 1997, he directed and presented ‘Danza na Muralla’, a performance that combined dance, theatre, poetry, image, music, light and fire and gave a good and innovative impression. During San Froilán Festivities in October 2007, he created again a stage space in the Roman Wall (Lugo).
In December, he directed “A Música coa Imaxe e a Danza” with the choreography ‘O Museo’ (Sala de los Mosaicos - Lugo Provincial Museum), produced by the University of Santiago de Compostela.
“Espazo de Danza Universitario” was formally presented at the church of the University of Santiago de Compostela in May 1998. Since that moment he has directed choreography and given courses, creating a Contemporary Dance Laboratory for university people.
In 1998, he was honoured as “Lucense del año” and “Milagrosista del año”.
He participates in many symposia, conferences and seminars related to dance and music.